Bringing knowledge management into an engineering curriculum

The use of effective knowledge management is becoming an essential part of technical development projects in order to enable developers to handle the growing complexity of these projects. In this article we discuss an innovative approach to address this concern from the perspective of an undergraduate engineering curriculum. Instead of adding knowledge management in the form of explicit study material, we integrated implicit knowledge management strategies into laboratory practice and projects. Using this method we exposed students to practical knowledge management techniques that will equip them with effective skills to handle the knowledge they produce and use in future projects. This article focuses on a pilot study in which we investigated how to design and focus a knowledge management system for inclusion into the practical component of an engineering course. We conclude this article by reflecting on how this approach is likely to influence engineering education in general.J South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (7) 2008: pp. 969-98